Olympus has announced it's agreed in principle to divest itself of its imaging business by transferring it to a new company that will continue to run it. The company that will run the new business is Japan Industrial Partners, and Olympus hopes that the final agreement will be made in September and the deal closed by the end of the calendar year. In a statement, Olympus says the new company will carry on making and selling camera equipment and suggests it will maintain R&D and manufacturing facilities around the world. Crucially, the new company will also provide support to existing Olympus camera owners. After three years of losses Olympus says it needs a more 'compact, efficient and agile' corporate structure and claims having a new company run the camera business is the only way to make it survive and grow. The company blames the rise in smartphones as a continuing factor in the decline of the camera market and says it has done what it can to reduce costs. However, further cost-cutting is to come as the imaging business is prepared for its transfer so that it can be taken on in a more 'profitable and sustainable' condition.
Too bad, indeed. I never looked too hard at Olympus, but as I recall their Pen model was one I liked (from film days, once upon a time, I haven't seen the new ones). I know that Fujifilm, too, has turned hard towards medical imaging and some other things, and tho they are still coming out with some interesting cameras, it's not a growth business by any means.
(and dpreview.com is a valuable site for most anything photography-related)
The demise of Olympus was simply a reminder the market for digital cameras, dominated by Japanese, is in dire straits and stuck in a downtrend that hasn't hit bottom yet. Analysts say camera-makers haven't been able to come up with a turnaround strategy and warn more companies may be forced to exit in the future. "Since the camera-makers are trying but haven't been able to find their next move, it's hard to say the market has hit rock bottom," said Ichiro Michikoshi, chief executive analyst at Tokyo-based marketing researcher BCN Inc. According to the Camera & Imaging Products Association, 15.2 million digital cameras were shipped by Japan's nine manufacturers in 2019. That's only 12.5 per cent of the 121.5 million shipped in 2010. "Since smartphone image quality has been improving remarkably, general users only need smartphones as long as they are shooting just for fun," said Michikoshi. "It has become very difficult to promote the merits of purchasing standalone digital cameras."
When was the last time anyone bought a Sony stereo?
When was the last time anyone bought a Sony stereo?
(I think Fujifilm uses Sony sensors in their cameras.)
heard the water splash on the left and the sound of the bus on the right
the quality of phones have become so well that a normal camera isn't needed except for when you are a pro photographer.
As fond as I am of component hi-fi systems, it's a tough value proposition these days when most people are fine using their PC as their home system and their phone as their portable player.When I was a kid we had this nice Dolby surround system.. remember how we would watch the movie "speed" and heard the water splash on the left and the sound of the bus on the right. I always felt when I'm older I want to have a nice system at home to listen to music or watch movies. Thing is the houses in Japan aren't really sound proof for those kind of systems. Would love to buy a don't system .
The thing that powered the Japanese economic miracle of the 1980's was that many companies came up with innovative products. Perhaps the best-known is the Sony Walkman (and this may be true of Japan cameras too, although I don't know). Sadly, the three areas of electronics, cameras, and cars have not seen a high number of innovative products in the last 20-30 years (which is why Japan's economy is suffering).
I don't think Canon has been struggling. They were just late to the party with Sony having first mover advantage by acquiring Olympus(?). The Canon R5 and new RF lenses put them in their place. Soon as more RF glass is brought to the market, you'll see a shift from Sony to Canon.Canon has been struggling as well
I'll keep my Tamron 70-200 G2 cause quality with Canon's USM II is comparable and half the price. I couldn't justify the RF 70-200 price at this point.
Honestly, even though the 70/80/90D are great ASP-C cameras with a good weather-sealed body going back to the 1970s, I would either move to the Canon 6D II full-frame and focus on EF glass as it retains its value much more, aside from third-party (Sigma Art, etc.) for ASP-C at comparable prices or the R6 (comparable build with the 6D II) and get premiere quality glass with the L lineup.How do you like the Tamron overall? Are you happy with the optics? I'm still using a Canon EOS 300D (Rebel, Kiss Digital) but planning on moving to the EOS 90D soon. The R family is just too pricey for my use cases and I still don't like EVF. The 90D is weather sealed so I want to pair it with weather sealed lenses and have been looking at some Tamron, Sigma, and Tokina lenses. Canon L series are just crazy expensive. :/
... My buddy says I should go Fuji and get the X-T4 ...
I just bought my first new lens in about 20 years last week. Actually it was just a replacement for the 75-300mm USM IS lens I bought in Japan about 20 years ago. I think it was about Y80,000 then. The last 5 years or so the image stabilizer started acting funny but not all the time. But finally am sick enough of it to get the latest version of the lens which was about $450. I almost never use an SLR but on epic vacations I still bring it. (Planning to go to Alaska next month.) The body is probably 10 years old. Rebel T3i (EOS 600D).
Canon to Nikon or vice versa is a big switch. I also have a 28-70mm f2.8 L lens that I bought around the same time when I was rich (single). Even though it's not a big investment compared to serious hobbyists it's still too much for me to consider switching.I'm using a similar setup: Kiss X6i (EOS 650D outside Japan and 8 years old) + EF 70-300mm F4-5.6L IS USM. Good enough for my type of shooting. I officially switched to Nikon four years ago because I thought I'd need a full-frame camera. I'm happy with the D750 and my set of Nikon glass but probably should have waited and invested in a 5D Mark IV. Or in an iPhone 11 Pro.
... probably should have waited and invested in a 5D Mark IV. Or in an iPhone 11 Pro.
I'd be happy to sell you a T6i (Kiss X8i) that Kitamura offered me (plus shipping): 25,740 yen with the used sales price of 46,000 yen.I'm using a similar setup: Kiss X6i
I would go with a Samsung S20 or Note 9+ (or Note 20? as it'd have 5G like the S20). The reason behind this is that both shoot RAW in pro mode, while I think you need an App on iPhone to shoot RAW, and I don't understand much about that, and if it is even RAW or a HEIF converted to a RAW file. Additionally, Apple just made a contract with Samsung to supply lenses for all new phones and potentially previous phones, so you know their lenses are good (if not better) than Apple's was.5D Mark IV. Or in an iPhone 11 Pro.
Not necessarily in the same price zone, but with how good of a deal I got one new for, it was close enough (maybe Pro++ with 512GB or 1TB[?]). I don't know if I told the story here, but they had a body only at the base exchange and I told the manager that they would never be able to sell it because they don't even carry lenses. At the time, it was $3400 on Amazon, but marked down for a bit to $2800 for some reason. I told him that I would use my STAR Card (a military credit card for store use only, unless you upgrade to the MasterCard) if he'd make a deal with me. Since I put it on my STAR Card, I was also awarded with 2 points for every $1, so I got two $20 gift cards (as they only send out gift cards for every 2000 points).Those are practically in the same price range! LOL